Rhythm is my Word of The Year for 2024 because I realized I'd need to adjust my routines and work on my time management as I started a full time work schedule, and I couldn't be striving or fighting all the time - I need to establish a healthy, balanced rhythm to my days and weeks. And additionally, in the last part of 2023, I felt like God had really been speaking to me about the subject of Sabbath, and that he was inviting me to be more intentional about practicing and celebrating a Sabbath rhythm in my life. Here's my WOTY post to explain: WQ - Rhythm Inspires
Friday, May 31, 2024
Five Minute Friday/May Rhythm - Just Passing Through
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Monthly Musings - WQ: Summertime
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Wednesday Hodgepodge - Adulting Hodgepodge Style
I think eighteen was the "magical" age my friends and I looked forward to, because we'd be legal adults and able to buy alcohol, so that was what I thought as a teen. I don't remember if I had a different age in mind when I was a kid. I got married when I was twenty, but I think I felt like I was truly an adult when I turned twenty-five. But to be honest, there are still times now, in my late fifties, when I'm not sure I'm actually an adult. Haha.
I was going to say the flannel shacket that I love, but I bought that in December. Hmm. Let me think a bit more . . . The squirrel-proof bird feeder? Or maybe the cosmetic travel bag that has really helped me keep my makeup much better organized?
I love hamburgers, but didn't have one at all on the 28th! I like my burgers cooked medium well, and topped with cheese and maybe bacon or a couple of pickles. No lettuce, tomato, onion though. I vary the condiments depending on where I'm eating and what I feel like that day, so it could be mayo/ketchup/mustard or Thousand Island dressing or barbecue sauce. My first choice for a fast food burger is Five Guys, but we don't go there often. I had a delicious cheeseburger on Sunday evening at a cookout. Completely homemade!
I'm not sure. I think my most important things have been my most important things for many years, but I'm sure I've adjusted how I allot my time and money to those important things. In general, I don't stress as much over how stuff looks or if it's exactly right. The best example I can think of is spending time with friends and family. It's always been a priority, but I've learned to just spend the time with people and spend less time and energy worrying about having the house perfect or a meal perfect and elegantly plated. The house is never going to be perfect, and I've learned that hospitality is making people feel welcomed and comfortable, not about impressing them.
I haven't got many specific things lined up on the calendar yet! My husband will have more Saturdays free so we should be able to do some more fun things on the weekends. We haven't decided when we'll do it, but one of the Metro Parks just competed a new canopy walk that we're looking forward to visiting. The pool in our neighborhood is open, so I guess I'm looking forward to having the kids over for swim days too.
On the long weekend we went to Maryland for a visit. Saw some friends and had a great time with the kids and our sweet granddaughter.
How is adulting going for you these days? Leave a comment and let me know!
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Twenty-Six Lists - It's A Family Tradition
- Birthdays - One of our birthday traditions goes back to some point during my on teen years, when my siblings and I started purposely butchering the "Happy Birthday" song for each other. That eventually became a tradition for our entire extended family - my parents and my siblings and their families. We used to phone the birthday celebrant, gather around the phone and put it on speaker (we've made a video once or twice), and the whole family attempts to sing the most horrendous version of the birthday song that we can. We do awful "harmonies" and sing at all different tempos and times, and try to make each rendition more hilariously ugly than the last. This very silly tradition seems to be a favorite and keeps us all laughing!
- School and Graduations - Even though we homeschooled, I did try to get "first day of school" photos each year. The boys were not always co-operative, and I didn't always get the photos, but I tried. For high school graduation, we allowed the graduate to choose the destination for that summer's family vacation. Harrison took us all to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Cedar Point. Spencer wanted to visit my family in Alberta and we added a few days at Glacier National Park and some other attractions in the area as well. Landon wanted to go back to Cedar Point, and also attend baseball games, so we saw games in Columbus, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Toronto. Kennady wanted to visit conservatories so we visited the Franklin Conservatory in Columbus, the Phipps in Pittsburgh, and made day trips to Longwood Gardens, the Botanical Gardens in DC, and the conservatory in Baltimore. My posts The Summer of Landon and Homeschool Highlights - The Week With Conservatories over on Homeschool Coffee Break summarize Landon's and Kennady's grad year vacations.
- Thanksgiving - we celebrate Thanksgiving on both the Canadian and the US dates, and usually there's a deep-fried turkey on at least one of those occasions. As the kids got older and found Significant Others, we found that it was easier to allow them to spend Thanksgiving with their "other" family if we made our family's big day in October. The last few years I've also tried to invite friends to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with us and honor the history of the Order of Good Cheer.
- Another tradition that began in my childhood is a family picture at the dinner table (definitely at Thanksgiving, but often at Christmas as well) with a goofy twist! When I was a kid my mom tried to get pictures of everyone at the dinner table on holidays, and we kids would always try to "ruin" it by freezing with a forkful of food halfway into our mouth, or with a drinking glass to our lips. At first Mom was frustrated with us, but the pictures turned out so funny that it became a traditional holiday picture pose, and now my own family does it enthusiastically.
- Christmas - some of these traditions have been changing as the kids became adults, but my husband and I still like to watch A Christmas Carol (the Alistair Sim version) on Christmas Eve, and It's A Wonderful Life on Christmas Day. As a family w used to try to watch Christmas movies and specials together throughout the season, and it was kind of special because we didn't watch TV as a family much during the rest of the year. When it comes to decorating, we start decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving, and I insist on keeping the tree up until Epiphany.
Other Traditions:
- we have a family Stanley Cup play-off pool.
- we share musical interests and we used to attend concert festivals such as Kingom Bound or UpRise together, and have gone to other concerts as a family as well. Obviously, as we've grown and spread out, we don't do that as often. For many years, our family was the core of one of the worship teams at our church, so playing music together was a family tradition too. Now that my husband and I have moved, Kennady and Landon continue heading up the worship team at their church, with Spencer as the sound tech, and my husband and I are now involved on the worship team at our church. It's a real treat for us to play with our kids sometimes when we go to Maryland for a visit, like this past Memorial Day weekend.
- family dinner was a standard in our family. Believe it or not, even when we had four young adults living at home, and everyon had their own work and school schedules and social lives, eating dinner as family still happened with great regularity. It was an almost daily custom and a simple thing that I cherished. Gathering around the table is a time-honored custom of fellowship and togetherness, and it can really bond a family. It was our privilege to also welcome 'auxiliary kids' to our family mealtimes regularly and consider them part of our family. Even our simple "Bye! Love you!" as someone headed out the door became a sort of parting blessing for all of us.
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Scripture and a Snapshot - He Lifted Me
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This post may contain affiliate links - using affiliate links from A Fresh Cup of Coffee helps continue the coffee breaks and conversation. ...
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A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a wee...
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A hodgepodge is a jumble or assortment of things that might not appear to belong together. Joyce at From This Side of the Pond hosts a w...